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Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Social Network

It’s as simple as this: The Social Network is much, much better than a film about obnoxious, affluent young men either sitting in rooms bickering over litigation or sitting in rooms writing computer code has any right to be.

The story takes an unbiased look from three perspectives at Mark Zuckerberg’s creation of Facebook through the witty words of Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) and the vision of director David Fincher. Apparently, Fincher liked the script so much that, when the studio told him it was too long, rather than cut any of it, he just told the actors to talk faster. This makes for some quickfire dialogue that you need to work hard to keep up with but also ensures that there is never a dull moment throughout. Jessie Eisenberg - who many thought to be little more than the poor man’s Michael Cera - is absolutely great in the lead role. Whether he is actually anything like Zuckerberg is a hard one to call as I have never seen a picture of the world’s youngest billionaire let alone heard him talk, but Eisenberg manages to portray a character that is both unpleasant, socially-inept yet strangely vulnerable despite his enormous wealth. You’re not exactly on his side, but it’s hard not to take pleasure at his acerbic verbal put downs of his antagonists.

Regardless of whether you love Facebook, hate it, or have no opinion on it at all, The Social Network is hugely entertaining and an interesting glance at how one of the most important social tools of the 21st Century so far was created. Surprisingly, considering what you would expect to be fairly uninspiring subject-matter, this is one of the best films of the year.